Twice on Saturday, former President Donald Trump stepped on up to stages to once sell his name to crowds of people. He hit similar beats in both, wearing gear that he also happens to be selling, bringing up an adoring fan from the audience and riffing on his campaign promises.
The second was Trump’s wheelhouse, an hour-plus long one-man show, rallying thousands of adoring Trump fans in Waterford Township, Mich., a must-win battleground state if he hopes to win a second White House term.
The first event, though, was a relative snap of the finger in Trump time — he left the stage in about six minutes. The former president somehow looked visibly out of his element before a crowd of sneakerheads and young people, facing a mix of cheers and boos, even as he did what he’s done for the better part of the last seven decades: selling something shiny with his name on it.
At about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Trump made an appearance at Sneaker Con Philadelphia, a gathering of enthusiasts looking to buy, sell and trade sneakers.
The former president strode to a lectern flanked by boxes of Trump-branded sneakers, shining gold high-tops with star-spangled detailing on the heel and a bold "T" facing outward on each shoe. The pre-order price of the shoes, according to the website shown at Trump’s backdrop, is set at $399, for a limited run of 1,000 — 10 of which are said to be autographed by Trump himself. The same site selling the golden "Never Surrender High-Top Sneaker" is also selling bottles of cologne and perfume, priced at $99 each, as well as red and white sock-style pull-on shoes, each priced at $199 for a pair.
Trump announced his appearance at Phily’s edition of Sneaker Con’s traveling roadshow on Friday, at just about the same time the New York Supreme Court ordered him, his sons, his buisness associates and his company to pay more than $350 million in damages, plus another $100 million in interest, in a civil business fraud trial.
He opened his appearance by placing a pair of Trump sneakers in front of him, looked over the crowd in bemusement, and spread his arms.
"I just want to tell you, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time…this is omethign I’ve been talking about for 12, 13 years, and I think it’s gonna be a big success," Trump said. "I appreciate the turnout, because they say theyv’e never had a turnout like this, and we’re gonna do things that are terriffic…we’re gonna remember the young people, and we’re gonna remember Sneaker Con!"
Shortly after that, he pulled up a woman in a Trump 2024 sweater, who had been screaming with joy at seeing the president.
"We need you, God bless you, I love you," she said, embracing the former president, before turning to the crowd. "He’s a Christian, he’s a good honest man," she said, pointing to Trump.
Meanwhile, the crowd — a mixed assemblage of Trump fans (alternating between cheering and shouting vulgar chants attacking President Joe Biden), Trump haters (booing the former president as he stood at the lectern) and onlookers who, per The Associated Press, may have been more interested in wandering the convention than listening to Trump.
Which was fine by him.
"It’s a slightly different crowd than I’m used to, but I love this audience," Trump said, shortly before leaving the stage. All told, he was in and out of the apperance in about six minutes.
Meanwhile, the sneaker pre-order is sold out online, and at least one eBay listing has a pair of the kicks — estimated to ship by July — available for $2,700.
About four hours later, Trump was back in his element in Michigan, casting himself as a victim of an unjust system and the most effective president in American history and casting Biden as a feckless, low-IQ, leader of a multimillion dollar crime family.
He did, of course, address the New York civil fraud decision, calling the judge a "lunatic" and telling the crowd that an expert witness said his financial statements were "the best he’s ever seen." The cases he’s facing — the judges and the prosecutors included — are "essentially all the same. Different wrappins, tone, manner, but always the same coordinated and overly nasty result."
The cases, he said on Truth Social, are part of a "coordinated election interference witch hunt being directed by Crooked Joe Biden" — the same man Trump called a "very low IQ individual" during his address in Michigan.
But the heart of his speech was a stack of promises to auto workers, appended with attacks against China, Mexico and Canada.
Trump promised to "bring auto manufacturing back," stating that on the first day of his presidency, he will stop cars from being sold "tax free" from manufacturing plants in Mexico into the United States. He criticized global trade for damaging the auto industry, claimed that his ordered withdrawls from NAFTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership saved American auto manufacturing, and derided electric vehicles, as well as the Biden administration’s push for EV manufacturing.
And, at one point, he called another audience member to the stage as they displayed their own love for Trump.
More than an hour and 20 minutes later, he was done…though not without a few gaffes, which the Biden campaign was happy to highlight.
The Biden-Harris HQ account — a "rapid response channel" of the reelection campaign that posts barbs and snarky fact-checks — posted a handful of moments in which Trump appeared to confuse dates, events and policy outcomes throughout his speech.
Most notably, however, Trump mixed up the date of the Michigan Republican presidential primary, telling the crowd to get out and vote on Nov. 27 — nine months after the actual date of the primary.
But, if the Biden campaign gets is way, Trump’s candidacy won’t matter anyway.
“Donald Trump showing up [to Sneaker Con] to hawk bootleg Off-Whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters.